Obama, Castro make history with handshake at summit
PANAMA CITY – With a cordial evening handshake, President Barack Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro moved Friday toward a groundbreaking meeting on the sidelines of the Summit of the Americas in what would be a remarkable display of reconciliation between two nations.
The powerful symbolism of a substantial exchange today between the leaders with the leadership of the Western Hemisphere gathered around them could signal progress. Both sides are still working through nettlesome issues that would lead to the opening of embassies in Washington and Havana, the first stage in a new diplomatic relationship.
The first visual clues of an improved relationship came Friday evening as Obama and Castro arrived at a Panama City convention center for the summit’s opening ceremonies. A reporter for a Venezuelan TV network posted video online showing the two greeting each other comfortably with multiple handshakes and extended small talk, while U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez looked on.
The two men were expected to speak further today – the first extended conversation between the leaders of the U.S. and Cuba in more than 50 years.
Obama, speaking to a meeting of civil society groups, cast the move to end hostile relations as a triumph for the Cuban people.
“As the United States begins a new chapter in our relationship with Cuba, we hope it will create an environment that improves the lives of the Cuban people,” he told the gathering, which included Cuban dissidents. “Not because it is imposed by us, the United States, but through the talent and ingenuity and aspirations, and the conversations among Cubans from all walks of life so they can decide what the best course is for their prosperity.”
The U.S.-Cuban outreach entered a new, accelerated stage in recent days, with Obama speaking with Castro by phone Wednesday and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry holding a lengthy meeting with Rodriguez late Thursday.
Even as Washington talked up the historic shift toward Cuba, leftist leaders in Latin America took shots at the U.S.
Barely off the plane, President Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela laid a wreath at a monument to victims of the U.S. invasion of Panama in 1989. To shouts of “Maduro, stick it to the Yankee,” he vowed to personally ask Obama to apologize to Panama and compensate victims of what he called a “massacre” that left more than 500 people dead during the invasion.